Friday, September 27, 2013

There are lots of innovative and not so innovative ways that
many of us are trying to explain the steps involved in open enrollment (starting
just a few days from now).

Complicated language with
complicated visuals;

Complicated language with simpler
visuals;

Simplified language with schematic
visuals:

You get the idea.

We're all burrowing, more or less, in the same holes,
trying, trying….

I first started looking at how consumers with low literacy, or low financial literacy approached choosing a Medicaid Health Plan in the early ‘90s.

What did I learned then that I'm using now?

I learned a lesson that Steve Jobs knew better and stated far more simply and elegantly:

“When our tools don’t work, we tend to blame ourselves. When our tools are broken we feel broken. And when somebody fixes one, we feel a tiny bit more whole”

(My good friend, Penny Lane, Director for the Center for Health Literacy at MAXIMUS INC. reminded me of this Jobs statement in a speech she gave yesterday at the PlainTalk in Complex Times conference in DC).

When consumers had clearer ideas of how to prepare for decision-making, when they knew more about what they needed to make the decision about health plan choices, they were more confident, more focused, and more capable.

So, even if the health plan choice tools can't be fixed right away, how can we help prepare the consumer to deal with the enrollment process.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The state of Minnesota has created a video showing all the many ways it is working to get out the word the that open enrollment is coming and that it is so very important to have health insurance.

In it you see all the ways: tv commercials, large outdoor bill boards, bus posters, print ads, radio spots, digital aids, ...The ads are running now. Minnesotans are learning about their health insurance choices through the Minnesota Health Exchange everyday.

The state of New York has a video I have only come across onYoutube. With instructions " To find out how you or your business can get it go to New York State of Health, the official health plan marketplace."1. I search in my google browser. 2. The first thing to pop up is New York State Department of Health3. New York consumers are not off to a good start. 4. Open enrollment start October 1. What does Minnesota know that New York doesn't?

BY CAROL GENTRY, PATRICIA BORNS AND KATHLEEN MCGRORY

The outreach workers known as navigators won’t be allowed to help people sign up for health insurance on the grounds of county health departments, according to a memo from the Florida Department of Health.

The order from Deputy Health Secretary C. Meade Grigg went out late Monday to the 60 local health department directors across the state.

Grigg declined to comment on the directive. But health department spokeswoman Ashley Carr said there was a need for “clarity” and “a consistent message” across the agency....Read More

Can it get more blatant that this!

It's not going to be difficult enough to reach people who are potentially insurable, so Florida has decided to make it even harder for navigators to do their work in the next month.

What we're reading and tuning into

Disclaimer

What I post here is intended only as a forum to discuss ideas. Please be aware that referred to research or sources evolve over time so the documents referred to on this blog may be superseded by new information.

Oh, and BTW I use the following broad definition of Health Literacy:“A health literate person is able to use health concepts and information generatively—applying information to novel situations. This is critical to our efforts to prepare the public to react to complex public health emergencies.”(From invited paper presented by me - Surgeon General’s Report on Health Literacy, September 7 2006, Bethesda Maryland http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/healthliteracy/toc.html)